Healthy Eating Tips for Healthy Blood Pressure:
- Buy fresh or frozen vegetables instead of canned or packaged with added sauces.
- Choose low-sodium vegetable juices and soups.
- Choose at least 3 higher fibre whole grain foods each day.
- When buying breads, crackers, cereals, bakery products, desserts and snacks, choose products with higher fibre, lower fat and lower sodium.
- Choose skim or 1% milk and yogurt more often than cheese.
- Limit processed cheese slices and processed cheese spreads.
- Have smaller portions of meats, fish (avoid fish high in mercury or deep-fried), and poultry.
- Eat a small handful of unsalted nuts and seeds several times a week.
- Limit processed, cured, smoked or deli meats.
- Check food labels and choose sweets and snack foods with the lowest amount of sodium and saturated or trans fat.
DASH: The DASH Diet (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) is similar to Canada’s Food Guide and has been shown to improve blood pressure. The DASH Diet emphasizes eating plenty of vegetables and fruit, low-fat milk products, whole grains, lean meats, fish, legumes (dried beans) and nuts and limits sodium to 1500 - 2300mg each day.